


Bare Thoughts

by mrssreid



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, Alternate Universe - No Exy (All For The Game), Book 4: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Canon-Typical Violence, F/F, F/M, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Quidditch, Slow Burn, Violence, au no drake, but Andrew is still pretty messed up, but not too slow because I want them to be happy, quidditch is exy basically
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-27
Updated: 2018-11-27
Packaged: 2019-09-01 05:37:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16759003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mrssreid/pseuds/mrssreid
Summary: When Neil Josten is the fourth name to be drawn from the infamous Goblet of Fire, he knows for sure that this is going to be his last year at Hogwarts.





	Bare Thoughts

**Author's Note:**

> All for the game (the foxhole court)-Goblet of fire AU. 
> 
> I was watching the movie and this popped into my head? Idk?
> 
> So the characters were kind of hard to place, so instead of each aftg character being an exact character from GoF, they have the idea of being that character with the circumstances surrounding them changed. 
> 
> That made completely no sense wow-
> 
> thanks to @hocksetter on tumblr for being my lovely beta

The dream started off normal. 

_ An elderly man was in his kitchen, fixing up a pot of tea. As he set down the pot, something caught his attention from the window above the stove. A light had turned on in the house he’d been hired to take care of. He grumbled, briefly considering ignoring it, as it was dark out and the house was a ways away.  _

_ Be that as it may, he still took his gas light off the wall and exited his small cottage, not bothering to turn off the lights or the stove. It would only take a couple minutes to tell the kids that had probably broken in to leave.  _

_ As the man entered the crumbling home and made his way up the ancient rickety steps off the foyer, he began to hear the faint whisperings of people talking to one another. He stopped, trying to decipher what was being said. _

_ “Sir, perhaps without the boy _ _ — _ _ ” a man’s low voice could be heard. _

_ “No!” a sharp tone that made the man shudder cut the other off. “It must be done as I say!” _

_ The old man flinched as he felt something brush past his legs, looking down and holding in a gasp of horror as he noticed an enormous serpent. The green and black scales of the creature reflected the dim light escaping the cracked door of the room from whence the whispering voices came. The man became entranced by the elegant animal, leading him to temporarily forget his surroundings.  _

_ Consequently, he only heard the tail end of what the sharp voice whispered to its companions. _

_ “ _ _ — _ _ give our guest a proper greeting.” _

_ The last thing the old man experienced was the harsh words of an inhuman creature and a bright flash of green light. _

* * *

Neil was stirred from his sleep by a faint tapping noise at his window. He remained completely still for a long moment, trying to even out his unsteady breath and waiting for the squeal of a ready tea kettle to dissipate. With the realization that the old man was only the byproduct of a dream, Neil relaxed.

The tapping had continued, growing louder and louder the longer he ignored it. The irregular beat led Neil to throw his sweaty blanket off himself and get up from the bed. His blue eyes swept the small, dingy room _ — _ the only place the keeper was willing to give a minor to live in for a few months _ — _ trying to find the source of the noise. He was drawn to a dirty window, one that he could barely look out of. Quickly, Neil picked up a pair of brown contacts and slipped them over his eyes. He heard the tapping once more, and noticed that the blurry white mass on the other side of the green-tinted glass was his snowy white owl, Abram. 

Lazily, Neil made his way across the room _ — _ which, admittedly, wasn’t a long distance _ — _ and unhinged the lock that latched the window shut. With a grimace, he placed his hands on the nasty thing and shoved it open, allowing Abram to enter the room with a happy chirp. 

The bird held a small envelope in its beak, one which it then dropped in front of the boy. Neil picked it up, smiling at the familiar messy scrawl in which the address of the Foxhole was written in.

_ Neil, _

__ __ _ I hope this letter finds you well. As you know, I’ve been begging my mom for months to go to the Quidditch World Cup. Good news _ _ — _ _ she’s finally said yes! On the one condition that I invite you, of course. Mom really does like you, Neil. You should stay over more often!  _

__ _ Anyway, this is me inviting you, if that wasn’t obvious. I know you’re going to say yes because there’d have to be something seriously wrong with you to say no, so we’re already on our way to the Foxhole! Everyone is going to meet up there, so expect to see some familiar faces appear throughout the next couple of days! _

__ _ I’ll see you soon, Neil! _

__ __ __ __ __ __ _ — _ _ Matt _

_ P.S. For some reason, Abram showed up on my windowsill just as I was writing this, so that’s why he delivered my letter. Smart bird, that one! _

Neil read the letter. Then he read it again. He couldn’t believe it _—_ he was going to the Quidditch World Cup!

A smile split his face, growing even wider when he realized that he was going to see his friends again. Matt had asked him to stay at his house over the summer, but it was always so crowded there because of his huge family. Nicky had invited him too, but Neil wasn’t sure he could handle two months of Aaron. He declined politely to both offers, and stated that he was going to be staying at the Foxhole. 

“You can’t be serious, Neil!” Dan had exclaimed almost immediately after the words had left his mouth. 

Neil had shrugged and said, “Well it’s not like I can stay at Hogwarts. And I can’t impose on either of you _ — _ ” the others started to argue that point, but Neil raised his voice over theirs, “ _ — _ and it’s really no trouble. The keeper is letting me stay for cheap, and the food’s good. I’ll be fine.”

“You still don’t understand the meaning of that word, do you, Neil?” Matt sighed and shook his head. “I suppose that’s alright, but you’ll tell us if you ever need anything, right?”

Neil nodded. “Of course.” 

Neil’s thoughts were interrupted by a light knock at his door. Before he could even take a step toward it, the sounds of familiar bickering reached his ears. 

“I don’t care if he’s sleeping, Dan, I need to know if my best friend is still alive!”

“Matt, the witch at the front desk wouldn’t have told us his room if he was dead!” 

“I guess _ — _ NEIL!”

Neil was scooped up into an enormous hug as soon as he’d opened the door, Matt holding him tightly. Neil huffed a laugh and pushed Matt away gently so that he could hug Dan. 

“How are you guys already here? I literally just finished reading your letter!” 

Matt’s big, bushy eyebrows scrunched together in thought. “Maybe Abram delivered it late?”

Neil shrugged, willing to push the matter aside, despite the knowledge that Abram had never done such a thing before. 

“Anyway, Mom just put a huge order in for breakfast, so be down soon! We’ll catch up properly then, okay?” 

Neil nodded as the couple backed out of his doorway. They walked a few doors down the hall before pausing. Matt turned to Neil, placing his key into the lock of the door they’d stopped at. 

“Dan and I have connecting rooms, so we’re both nearby. Don’t hesitate to come over if you need something, okay? We’ll see you in a bit!” 

With that, they swiftly entered what Neil presumed to be Matt’s room. 

A firm smile was in place on Neil’s lips as he shut his own door. It really had been a long time since he’d seen his friends. His life, he realized, was extremely boring without Matt’s endless chatter or the cousins’ bickering. 

However, in a matter of moments Neil’s smile had slowly faded as scenes of his dream flashed in his mind. He vaguely recognized the voice that had been as cold as ice, but he refused to believe it was who he suspected. There was no way in  _ hell _ that it was even  _ possible _ . 

Subconsciously, Neil rubbed at his shoulder, feeling where the scar of an iron poker took form, hidden underneath a ratty old t-shirt. 

Shaking his head to try and clear his thoughts, Neil set off getting ready for breakfast.

* * *

Not much surprised Neil, but witnessing a mass of brown curls bounce into view as he descended the stairs threw him a bit. Not to mention the sight of two blond heads as well.

“Nicky?” Neil questioned hesitantly once he had reached the bottom of the narrow stairwell. 

“Neil!” The boy found himself swooped up into his third hug of the day, albeit this one more bone-crushing than the previous two. “It’s so good to see you! I’ve missed those beautiful cheek _ — _ WHAT DID YOU DO WITH YOUR HAIR?” Fingers were suddenly shoved into Neil’s hair, leading him to tense uncomfortably and flinch.

“Nicky,” a familiar low voice warned.

Neil sighed in relief, not only upon the fingers exiting his hair, but also upon hearing Andrew’s voice. 

“Sorry, Neil,” Nicky apologized with a self-deprecating smile. “The too-much gene strikes again.”

Neil raised his own hand to his now auburn curls almost on reflex. “It’s fine. As for my hair, I learned the hard way that there is no hair dye in the wizarding world.”

“But why would you want to cover such a beautiful color? Especially with a boring color such as brown _ — _ ”

“What’s a hair dye?” Matt cut Nicky off, bless his heart.

“It’s what made Neil’s hair brown, babe,” Dan answers, leading Neil to recall that she was muggle-born. 

Matt’s face scrunched in confusion once more, but before he could ask any more questions, his mother _ — _ a truly lovely woman whose head reached her son’s shoulder _ — _ brought Neil into yet another hug.

“Neil, dear, how lovely it is to see you! I’m so glad you wanted to come with us!” Neil could practically hear the smile in her bubbly voice, as kind and sweet as always. 

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world, Ms. Boyd.” Her smile lit up the room when she pulled away.

“Please, Neil, call me Randy. Well, off you go, all of you! There’s breakfast to be eaten, and I’m sure you all want to catch up!” She existed the room in a flutter of movement, and Neil turned to the table where said food was waiting. 

Brown-contacted eyes met hazel ones, and Neil received the strange feeling that those eyes had been on him the whole time. The same feeling of relief as when he had heard Andrew’s voice washed over him once more as he slowly made his way to the table, the voice of a confused Matt and an ever-patient Dan growing dim. Once he sat down he gave a slight nod to Andrew, in which the latter simply focused his attention to a rather dangerous looking pile of waffles placed in front of him in reply. Neil elected to ignore Aaron, and vice versa.

“Y’know, the twins actually got in a couple days ago. Erik invited me to spend the summer with him in Germany, so I was there. I arrived around the same time as the Boyds and Dan did,” Nicky said casually before stuffing his mouth with a forkful of purple, raspberry looking fruits. “I’m sure you’ve already caught up?”

“No. I didn’t know that they were even here, actually,” Neil responded. “I suppose Aaron didn’t want to spoil his summer by interacting with me.”

Aaron scoffed, standing abruptly and leaving the table in a dramatic manner. 

“Oh. Uh, I’m sorry on their behalf?”

Neil raised a questioning eyebrow in Andrew’s direction, which went either unnoticed or ignored, and responded to Nicky. “It’s fine. I at least had a couple more days of relative peace.”

“Relative?” Nicky asked, uncaring of the food in his mouth. 

“It’s nothing. Just some dreams.” Andrew lifted his head at that, tilting it in question despite his face remaining devoid of emotion. Neil nodded his head slightly as if to say, ‘ _ Not now. _ ’, and Andrew returned his attention to his sugary monstrosity. 

The rest of breakfast was filled with Nicky’s endless chatter about Germany.

* * *

By the time Neil finally escaped Nicky, the food was gone and Andrew was nowhere to be seen. 

Sighing as he shut his door, Neil gave thanks that he was finally out of earshot of Nicky’s far too detailed explanation of his time in Germany with Erik. Making his way further into his room, two sweaters on his bed caught his attention, a little note placed on top of them. 

_ I don’t know which team you go for, so I had Matt cough up one of each from his stash. He’s got so many that his drawers are basically bursting with them! _

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ _ — _ _ Randy _

Neil smiled at his best friend’s mother’s actions as he inspected both sweaters. Each had their respective Quidditch teams on the front, as well as the team’s colors. They were worn out and had clearly been owned for a long time. Neil made two mental notes: first, to thank Ms. Boyd for being so kind to him, and second, to most definitely return them. 

This was shaping up to be one of the best summers of Neil’s life. 

If only he had known how wrong he really was.

**Author's Note:**

> comments and kudos inspire me to write!
> 
> catch me on tumblr @littlepolypan


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